President's Day QR Code Reading & Writing Freebie

This is an oldie but a goodie! If you have devices to scan QR codes, make sure you read the blog post about this engaging activity HERE!

And download the updated activity HERE! 

Happy {almost} President's Day! 

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President's Day Fun with QR Codes {FREEBIE}

Happy February!!!!!!!!! Eeeek! Time is flying! It seems like we just started school! And now Spring break is right around the corner! (Wishful thinking, right!?!?)  

This is a super fun President's Day writing activity I've used in the past. 

If you're able to scan QR codes (using any device with a scanner- iPads, iPods, iPhones, and even computers can scan!), your kids will love this project and it'll keep them super engaged! 

There are 15 informational slides that include facts I want my students to know about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and all about the President's job today. I created each slide in PowerPoint, saved them as PDFs, and then uploaded each slide individually to my DropBox account. 

After they were uploaded, I clicked "Share Link" for each slide. This generates a URL, which I was able to use to create the QR codes with. I print out all 15 of the QR codes and hang them all around my classroom. When students scan the QR codes, they are taken directly to the slide with the information about the presidents. 

One benefit of creating these slides myself was that I am completely in control of what the students see and learn. I'm also able to tailor the project directly to my class' needs and reading abilities (which is impossible to do with some websites). 

As they scan, students use the graphic organizer to record and organize the information they are learning. 

Students then use their pre-writes to complete an informational writing piece about the presidents. Here is an example of a final writing project completed in Pages by a 2nd grade student. 

(We used the free version of the Comic Touch app to add the speech bubbles... ;-) 

Click the picture below to download all of the resources and QR codes you will need to complete this project with your class!

Happy scanning! Happy February! Happy almost President's Day! :)

For more techie ideas and projects, head on over to my collaborative blog I work on with my dear teaching partner and friend!  

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The Future Leaders of our Country & a Question

We have been talking about President's Day this week. We did some writing using Ginger's adorable "If I were president" template. (Thank you Ginger!!!) You can find it here!

It turns out, I have many future leaders in my class. Here's what you can look forward to in the presidential election of 2056:


"If I were president, I would eat all day."


"If I were president, I would have pretty dresses and my guards would protect me."


"If I were president, I would make a rule. The rule is no dogs fighting."


"If I were president, I would make everyday a field trip. And I would make milk shakes for everyone. And we would have four hours of recess. And I would make the cafeteria have Slurpees."


"If I were president, I would build new libraries so people could read for free."


Apparently, we need to talk more about what our president really does...


PS- I have really enjoyed reading about everyone's adorable President's Day ideas and seeing what all of your student's have created! I just wish I had more time to fit more in!!!! There's never enough time!!! Next year! :-)


Now a question for you...


1. How do you decide whether or not to post pictures of your students on your blog??? All of my students have signed slips saying their pictures/videos can be published online, but I am still hesitant. Does that just mean on our school website? How do you handle this???


Happy Wednesday! Tomorrow is Thursday which means the next day is Friday!!! My favorite day of the week!!!


And... Idol is on tonight! :-)

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